If you're looking at the stats, Chris Anderson and David Sally's The Numbers Game can tell you how useless corners are.

Their study of 1434 corners from 134 games in the 2010/11 season produces this outcome: "The total number of goals a team scores does not increase with the number of corners it wins. The correlation is essentially zero."

According to the data a Premier League team can expect to score from a corner once every ten games, a summary that includes Jose Mourinho drily commenting on how the English are the only supporters in Europe to cheer a corner like a goal.

Such analysis does its best to debunk the idea that corners are extra reason to applaud, but it goes against an inherent understanding of what those set-pieces represent.

For a fan, your team winning a corner does bring excitement. Forget any tactical innovations, they provide an opportunity to lump lots of players in the box who would not normally be there and try and give them a ball they can score from.

Kompany certainly enjoys scoring them

It seems very simple for those paid lots of money to be good at these things, which adds to the expectation.

So it was frustrating for Manchester City fans to see the team go between September 13 and April 25 last season without finishing one off. Making it worse, they were leaking goals from set-pieces at the other end.

The City boss has been careful in recent weeks when asked both about clashes with top four rivals and relegation contenders to stress that there are a number of reasons City lost the title.

He highlighted before the season that more than 35% of goals they conceded last season were from set-pieces, adding: "It is important to concentrate on the second balls and not to concede so many free kicks or corners."

Two clean sheets from two games so far do not point to an absolute resolution, but the early signs are good. And success at the back has been accompanied by headed goals for Vincent Kompany in consecutive games.

Put them together with corners from last season and the average likely isn't too far from Anderson and Sally's figure.

But contextualise the near-nine month drought within a trophyless campaign, put recent successes with a "hungry and angry" group of players whose manager has talked about the need for set-pieces, and it feels like an improvement.

The significance may dwindle over time - like the win over Chelsea - but for now it can only good to the feelgood factor surrounding the manager and his squad.